Residuum
by Aster Sapphire
Summary: One is battered and broken; more so in spirit than flesh. One searches desperately for long overdue answers and lost kin. Another suffers from old wounds, that have been re-opened. One fears she has lost everything. And one is still on the prowl for blood. The attack was only the beginning for everyone, it is the aftermath that holds the most difficult challenges they soon face.
1. Chapter 1

Leo's POV

I had run about eight blocks away from the sardine box when the storm started.

At first it was just a harmless drizzle, but one minute passed, then another and soon enough the "harmless drizzle" turned into a full on downpour. I grimace at the thought of returning to the apartment. Living there for the past couple of weeks hadn't exactly been paradise.

Not that I'm not grateful that April opened up her home to us, but her apartment is a bachelorette pad, not a bed and breakfast, fit for six. We had moved into her place after we returned from the underground city (a _very_ long story I'll go into more detail to never) to find that our home had been overrun by foot ninja. We'd been hiding at April's for about a week, and the crowdedness was really starting to get to me. Everywhere I looked, I saw one of my brothers, or Master Splinter, or April; and it was driving me nuts.

If I had to crash into someone on the way to bathroom, one more time, I was going to stab them. But then again, I guess I can't be _too _mean. There were upsides. April had very quickly become a good friend of ours and I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't nice getting to see her more often.

I initially kind of felt bad about just intruding on April but she said she didn't mind. Anyone could say that but she actually seemed to _enjoy _our company. She was either putting on a brave face and doing a very good job of not hurting anybody's feelings or she had found a way to actually tolerate and _like _us.

She even found a way to be happy around Mikey. She would actually sit back and listen with legit interest while he rambled on about the comic book heroes he adored so much. I told her that she didn't have to put herself through that for his satisfaction but she replied by saying that she actually liked hearing Mikey's stories and found it cute. After that, I didn't say another word about it.

Better her than me. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Whenever Mikey wasn't hogging all of her attention, she would go and geek off with Donnie or chat with Master Splinter or Raph, who despite how much he tried to hide it because he's forbid himself to display emotions, had taken quite a liking to her.

Sometimes when nights were clear enough she would just watch us train with her eyes bugging out and as wide as saucers. I found it kind of cute how interesting she finds ninjas, but at the same time, we've also been told it's annoying when we pop of nowhere at night while she's watching TV and ask her how her day was.

Living there was bittersweet, but often more sweet than bitter. It was also temporary. Once we got the foot out of the way and could head back to the lair we would. Sure I'd miss getting to hang around April more often , but I'd be happy that I could go five seconds without crashing into two other people on the way to the kitchen.

I began to make my way across the rooftop, when I stopped.

Something didn't feel right. You know that feeling you get when you feel like someone is watching you? I've learned not to ignore that feeling as much as I used to. Because, if I ever feel like someone is watching me, someone usually is. And that someone is always trying to kill me.

I scanned the area around me and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, at least not right away. On a rooftop towering above me, I just barely make out a dark, shadowy, figure. "What the…" I didn't get to finish my sentence. I was interrupted by the sound of swords sheathing, on instinct, I grabbed one of my katana and sliced in the direction I'd heard the sound. There was a brief yelp of pain, then a thud. I looked down see a black clad, stranger clutching his shoulder.

_Foot ninja_.

Don't these people have lives outside of trying to kill us for no apparent reason?

. I unsheathed my other katana and got into my fighting stance. Three more foot ninja jump out and charge at me with full speed. One of them throws a kunai at my head and I duck. When I come back up, he's right in front of me and I smash the end of my hilt into his skull and he falls to the ground with a weak moan. I turn my attention to the other two, who look reluctant to attack; I decide to take advantage roundhouse kick both of them before they have a chance to block. All three are down, but I'm sure that's not the last of them.

I turn on my heel and take off in the opposite direction April's place just as five more land the roof and follow me in pursuit. My plan was simple, try and lose them then call for back up. Kick butt, go home. The End.

That plan, went wrong almost immediately.

I leap of the roof and in midair, I feel something lodge itself in my right calf and my leg erupts in pain as a warm liquid begins to trickle down my leg. Needless, to say, it totally wrecked my landing. When I landed, my right foot twisted under me and I fall flat on my face. Heroic.

I sit up and examine the damage on my calf to find a kunai sticking out it. Blood trickles down from the wound too fast for my comfort. I'm naturally tempted to rip it out, but I resist the urge knowing I'll only make it worse. I only know that from the health seminars Donnie forced us all to sit through after our first encounter with the Foot and Purple Dragons.

I grab my Shell Cell from my pouch and I'm about to dial for Donnie's number. Before I can even process what happened, a ninja star materializes out of now here in the middle of the key pad. It short circuits and the screen goes completely black. It takes me a few seconds to actually make sense of what had just happened and I sit there stunned.

I mean, I always knew that I never had much luck on my side, but I never thought it was _this _bad. Slowly, I begin to panic. Stranded several blocks from help, with a wounded leg, a twisted ankle and the Foot clan after me.

"Looks like _somebody_ isn't having a very good night." Says a voice from behind me. I whip my head around find Hun standing behind me, grinning maniacally.

I took my swords out of my scabbard and use them to force myself to feet. My leg and ankle scream in protest but, I try to make myself look as neutral as possible. Not that that would have helped much. Even Hun could notice a kunai sticking out of my leg.

I try to shoot him an intimidating look, but apparently fail, because Hun just grins and balls one of his large hands into a fist slams it into his open palm.

"You have no idea what you're up against, freak." He says stepping a little closer to me.

"Well then why don't you quit talking so I find out?"

The corner of his mouth twitches up and he cracks his neck. "I'm gonna enjoy this." He says with a smirk. Then he lets out an ear splitting battle cry, just before charging me. Hun's body, despite weighing in at a whopping quarter of a ton, moves towards me with speed that rivaled the blink of an eye. Before I could I even _think _about dodging, Hun's large fist slammed into my plastron.

Whoever first said that a turtle's shell is protective was terribly wrong and has obviously never had to withstand a punch from Hun. Even _with _my plastron "protecting" my inner organs, I still felt every ounce of strength Hun put into that strike in my stomach, my lungs. It felt as if they all flipped around inside of me and traded places with each other. I imagined that this is what it felt like to get hit by a very small car going at full speed.

I bit my tongue to hold back my scream of pain as Hun sent me flying into a brick wall. I fall to the ground in a heap and gasp, desperately trying to reclaim the air that once resided in my lungs. Hun comes over and snatches me off the ground. He rips the kunai out of leg and the blood flow speeds up and starts to leak out of me at the rate of water from a sprinkler.

I slowly got back to my feet and my body screamed in protest; I fell back down my plastron with a pathetic groan. I can feel my body temperature drop as the blood loss begins to take its toll. I didn't dare look to see how much I was losing. I never did like seeing blood. A pretty lame thing for a ninja to be weary of being around, I know but it made me sick to my stomach. The metallic smell that fills your nose, the way you can feel yourself slipping away as your life slowly bleeds away. It's makes me want to vomit.

A few feet away from me, Hun was laughing sadistically.

He stood up and for a moment it looked like he was going to charge at me, but he stopped. He turned his gaze to something behind me. He looked back at me and grinned maniacally again. He bowed and then took a few steps back. I turned around and looked in the same area looking. When I saw the figure, thousands of emotions rushed through me at once. Confusion, anger, fear, hopelessness.

"No…that's impossible! Master Splinter finished you off! We _saw_ you die!" I yelled. Although, I couldn't see his face through his mask, I was sure that the Shredder was smirking at me.

"Looks like you were wrong, turtle." He growled at me. "You may have defeated me once, but this time you will not be so fortunate!" He then charged at me with his arm raised. And the next thing I knew, one of his claws was coming down at me. The blades cut right through my arm and I crumpled. The pain wasn't like anything I'd ever felt before. And the blood…there was so much of it now. It was everywhere I looked. I could feel the muffin I ate for breakfast this morning, slowly making my way back up my throat along with last night's dinner.

My leg was still bleeding, and the two new cuts in my flesh, I was sure I'd be dead in a matter of seconds. I had only seen bleeding like this in bad horror movies, and I certainly had never bled like this before. My right arm goes back and forth between being numb and causing intense pain. I clench my teeth and hiss, refusing to cry out. My vision becomes blurry and my head starts to throb. Every time, I almost manage to get up, I crumple back onto my stomach. Each time I try to stand, the seemingly simple task gets harder and harder. It was like trying to walk up a hill in the middle of a Hurricane.

Shredder chuckles and I hear him take a few steps closer to me. He yanks me off the ground by the tails of my bandanna and throws me into a brick wall. I don't even get a chance to fall to the ground before he's on me again. He spins around and kicks me in the stomach.

When I double-over he swats me backwards and I fall flat on my shell. I cough and spit out a another disturbing amount of blood. I let my hit the concrete and stare up at the sky. Heavy rain pelts my body, causing me to shiver. I try and will myself to stand up, but just _thinking _about getting my feet hurts. I do it anyway though. I reach out with my un-injured arm and grab hold of the edge roof to pull myself up. My body tells me to get back down but as tempting as that sounds right now, I ignore the urge. My legs wobble, even with me clinging to the roof for support.

I look around the roof for Shredder but don't see him. My vision isn't at its best right now. It's clouded with black dots and starts right now and the rain didn't help much at all.

I push away from the edge of the roof and stagger forward. Each step feels like I'm walking on pins and needles. I hear grim laughter echo around me and I reach back to get my other katana. I almost cry when I don't grab a hilt. I reach for the other scabbard hoping I had just went to the wrong one by accident, but I feel nothing but my own shell.

Injured. Alone. Unarmed. And outnumbered.

I already feel defeated. I don't feel like someone who's trained in the art of ninjitsu all his life. Someone who should know what to in situations like this. I don't feel like someone who goes out every night and fights crime with his brothers like a comic book hero and then go home and laugh about it.

I don't feel like any of that. All my defenses crumple and my courage abandons me. For the first time ever, I feel like a scared, 16 year-old boy in way over my head.

I'm used to always feeling in control of what goes on around me. I used to being able be faced with a challenge and take it down with my brothers by my side with no hassle. It never once occurred to me during those times that's I'm only a kid. From the moment I began my training, I had become a ninja. And later on, I had become a leader. I didn't feel like either of those things right now.

I'm pretty sure at that moment, that I actually _do _start to cry. But I tell myself it's just the rain pelting my face.

I stagger around the roof some more, keeping an eye for Shredder, not that he would very hard to miss. As if on cue, he appears behind me out of nowhere. I don't even have time to turn around before he makes his move.

He grabs hold of my bandanna again and slams my head into his knee cap. My face suddenly feels like someone just threw a tomato at it. I feel blood splatter everywhere, and the metallic taste of it starts to fill my mouth.

I stumble away and fall onto my knees a few feet away from Shredder.

He laughs darkly as he approaches and hit footsteps are accompanied by the sound of metal dragging across the ground.

"My apologies, turtle. We're you by chance looking for these?" He asks me as if he's genuinely sorry.

I look over and he has a katana in either of his hands. Both of which are mine. The long, sleek blades glisten radiantly as they reflect the moon light. I long to be able to wield them right now and only just now realize how important they are to me and how much I depend on them.

I scoot away until I hit a wall and mutter a curse under my breath in Japanese.

"You should see how pathetic you look right now, turtle. Without your brothers and your Master you are nothing more than a weakling!" He says as he paces back in front in front me. I look above me at the rooftops and notice that more Foot ninjas have crowded on them, and are looking down at us. I fear that they're about to jump down and help Shredder beat the rest of the crap out of me, but they don't move.

They just stand up there and watch, like spectators in a Coliseum and the Shredder is a vicious lion about to finish off the poor soul who was tossed to him as food. I feel something prod my throat and feel blood trickle down it. I turn my attention back to Shredder and find that he has the tipped of my katana, _my _katana pressed against my throat. Daring me to move.

"It truly is a shame I must do this. You are an excellent fighter, so much potential in you. If only you had stayed by my side. If you had just taken my offer and joined me, you not be in this predicament. I would not be your enemy. But you, you and your brothers and your foolish Master humiliated me!" He says as he lightly puts more pressure on the katana.

"I never asked to be your enemy. I just didn't want anything to do with you anymore! That night on the rooftop with the water tower didn't have to happen. If you only walked away like I did, that never would have happened. You bought it on yourself, and quite frankly; you _deserved _it."

"Precisely, turtle. You walked away from me. And anyone who does not stand _with _the me will surely fall _before_ me. By the end of the night the heads of, you, your brothers and your Master will all be my _trophies_." Shredder says. He puts more pressure on the blade and I wince as it digs deeper into my skin.

"Do what you want to me, but leave my family out of this! You say, this all happened because of me then you take it up with me. And _me _only. Just…please, leave them alone."

"Oh but, Leonardo I am afraid it is too late for that. But if it an act of kindness you want from me, than so be it." He said grimly.

"Oh really," I say, narrowing my eyes, already knowing I won't like the answer. "And just what may that be?"

I can almost feel the Shredder grinning beneath his mask. "For now, Leonardo, I will spare you. I will spare long enough, so that you may watch you brothers and your father be slaughtered before your very eyes." He hisses, leaning closer to me.

Without another word, he yanks me off the ground by bleeding arm and flings me behind him into the waiting arms of two foot ninjas. They don't make much of an effort to hold me in place. Guess they figured that they don't need to with the state I'm in. I could barely stand on my own, let alone struggle against them.

"Come along, now Leonardo. I have an Antique Shop, I would like to visit."


	2. Chapter 2

April's POV: _an hour earlier_:

I always hate when random storms happen early in the morning and wake me up in the middle of a dream about Ashton Kutcher finally proposing to me. It's just unfair and cruel.

Knowing there was no chance of me ever finishing that dream, I got out of bed, threw on my housecoat and lazily wandered out of my room and into the kitchen.

When I get there, I start to wonder; I'm not sure what's going to take more getting used to. Being friends with four mutant teenagers and an elderly mutated rat, or being friends with five ninjas. I walk in the kitchen and looks like some kind of kitchen circus is going on.

I watch as Don takes a stack of dishes out the cabinet and tosses them towards the table, three feet away from him. Raph would catch them with one hand and slide them to a specific spot on the table. His other hand was holding the newspaper he was reading. Mikey is at the stove making pancakes. This would be normal, except each time finishes one; he flips onto a platter he's holding in his other arm. He seems to know exactly which way to move the platter to catch the pancake without even looking.

Master Splinter just sits patiently in his chair as if all of this is normal. Don hands Raph the final plate and I sit down just as it slides into a designated place on the table.

"Morning sleeping, beauty." Don says when he stops being awesome long enough to notice me. He smiles as he hands me a cup of coffee as I sit down. I almost ask why he's in my kitchen drinking my coffee but then I remember that I _am _currently housing him along with his three mutant turtle brothers and his mutant rat father. I find it simply amazing how much my life has changed since they moved in after the Foot invaded their home in the sewers.

Just _saying _that one sentence makes me realize that whatever "normal" I had in my life before has been completely tossed out of the window. One minute, I'm just a regular old scientist, the next thing I know, my boss tries to kill me and, BAM! Now I'm living with mutants on the run from ninjas.

My mother would be so proud.

"Morning April!" Mikey called happily from the stove, he was making eggs and wearing a green apron. It barely covered anything since it was made to fit average sized, human women rather bulky mutant turtles.

"Sup'" Raph said from behind a newspaper without looking at me. Before I got to know him I would've considered it rude, but now I realize it's just his way of saying he's comfortable enough around me to do more than grunt whenever I speak to him.

"Good morning Ms. O'Neil." Master Splinter said warmly. He's somehow sitting lotus style in the small dining chair as he sips tea from a small porcelain tea cup.

"Thanks, Don. Morning guys. I enjoyed the show. I'm never that fun when I make breakfast." I say accepting the coffee.

"Aww, don't beat yourself up too much. You at least pretty while being a boring chef." Mikey chimes in from the stove.

"Thanks…I think." I reply. I shrug and scan the room. I notice that we're one ninja turtle short. "Where's Leo?" I ask after taking a sip of coffee.

"He went out for run." Raph said, his face still hidden behind the newspaper. He must be in the sports section or something.

I look out the window and wrinkle my nose, "In _that_? What's wrong with him?" I asked pointing at the storm outside. As if the universe agreed with me that Leo was insane and wanted to prove my point, a sudden flash of lightning lit of the sky accompanied with a roaring clap of thunder.

"He's Leo, that's what's wrong with him. That and I think he was going stir crazy or something." Don said sitting at the table.

"He ain't the only one. This place is like a sardine box. A really, girly sardine box." Raph grumbled. He glanced over the newspaper and met my eyes. "No, offense Ape." He added in what I'm assuming was supposed to a genuine tone.

"Raphael!" Master Splinter said sharply as he hit Raph in the back of his head with his walking stick. I hide a laugh in my mug of coffee but he catches it and scowls at me. I wipe my smirk off and raise my hands in surrender. His brothers on the other hand don't even try to hide their laughter. I guess it's because their use to getting pounded by and could withstand whatever punishment follows their actions.

"It's cool, I understand. It must've been hard difficult making the transition from such a spacious living area to an apartment fit for one. Next time I go house shopping, I'll foresee myself housing five mutants and buy a mansion." I said. Raph rubbed the spot on the head where Master Splinter hit him and gave him look that told him, "See, she's not offended!" He protested.

"Nonsense, Ms. O'Neil. We are simply thankful for your generous hospitality. We will do our best to be out of your way soon." Master Splinter said as he placed his hand on my arm.

"What? No, you guys don't have to rush anything. You stay here as long as you need to. I'm actually enjoying the company. Gives me something to look at when nothing's on TV. Besides, I do kind of owe it to you, you know?" I say with a small smile.

"You say that now but, you haven't spent 16 years with Mikey yet. Give him time, you'll be ripping your hair out in no time. That's why we don't have any. It was initially a side effect of the mutation ooze but then we spent a few years with Mikey, and "poof" completely bald." Don said with a grin.

"Hey! I'm not that bad to live with. You guys just don't know how to appreciate my sense of humor and my light hearted spirit. I've bring you all joy! If weren't for me, you would all be emo and boring!" Mikey said defensively. He turned around wielding a spatula, and has a scowl on his face. He begins to serve us sunny-side up eggs and toast. "This one's for you." He says as he serves me a slice of toast in the shape of smiley face. I can't help but laugh. We begin to eat and half-way through the meal, a brash clap of thunder sounds making us all jump. "I hope Leo makes it home okay, this storm is really picking up."

"April, this is Fearless we're talking about. Chances are he'll nag Mother Nature until she stops the storm. He'll be back soon enough." Raph says in what I assume was supposed to be a comforting voice. I can never really tell with him.

The rest of breakfast that morning consisted of a burp-off and Master Splinter and I watching in amazed silence as the others scarfed down their food like ravenous wolves. I swear I'm not exaggerating when I say Raph finished his plate in three bites total. Once they were done it looked as if they plates had never been used.

By the time they were done, Master Splinter and I had made it through half of our plates. Don offered to do the dishes and I gladly took him up on his offer.

In the spare time I now had since I didn't have to worry about the wasteland the guys had left in the kitchen, I went up to my room to take a hot long shower. I felt kind of bad for abandoning poor Master Splinter with the guys while I was taking a relaxing shower. The last I saw of them as I made my way to my room was Raph and Mikey arguing over who won the burp-off from earlier. Technically, neither of them did. Master Splinter ended the competition once we were able to actually _smell _their burps from across the table. He snapped at them in Japanese, which I can't understand, and they immediately ceased the completion. I don't know what he said, but whatever it was, it put an end to the epic burp war as they were now calling it so I was happy. Still, that did not change the fact that just ten minutes later they were dangerously close to turning my living room into a wrestling ring…again.

Master Splinter chuckles and captures my attention. "I appreciate your concern but I can assure you that I am able to withstand the wrath of my sons.

I give him a smile and nod. "Good luck." I say to Master Splinter in a whisper. I left him to face the wrath of his sons' relentless nonsense and entered my room. I closed the door tightly behind me but I was still able to hear the muffled screams of Mikey and Raph as their argument continued to escalate. Even after I continued into the bathroom, I could hear bits of their fight. I was finally successful in drowning them out however, when I stepped into the shower. I stayed in there until the water got cold and forced me out. Which only took about five minutes.

Stupid cheap shower.

I get dressed and blow dry my hair before I head back down with a brush in hand.

It's surprisingly in a better state than I left it in. Raph is sitting on the couch angrily flipping through the TV channels with Don and Mikey by his side. They occasionally ask him to stop on a specific channel but would just ignore them and keep flipping.

I plop down in the arm chair across from them and began to brush through my hair. Mikey looks up and me grins.

"Ooh! Can I brush your hair!" He pleads excitedly. He sounds genuinely exited about doing it to. Raph looks him and shakes his head with a groan. If I could see his eyes, I'm sure I would have found him rolling them.

"Oh, umm, sure." I say, not wanting to break the poor things heart. Saying no only would have made him beg and I'm a sucker for his puppy dog look. Any time the guys wanna do something stupid they just sick Mikey on me to get, yes from me as an answer.

"Radical!" He shouts in glee. He leaps to his feet, rushes over and grabs the brush. In my head, I pictured him pulling the brush through too hard and ripping all my hair out. But surprisingly, he was rather careful about it, making soft gentle strokes. I hear him inhale and sigh.

"Your hair smells like strawberries." He mutters.

Don looks up at him, his mouth agape. He turns his attention back to the TV and says, "That just earned you about 100 out of ten points on the creepy scale."

Mikey ignores him and continues to brush my hair; he would occasionally simply run his hair through it. He was doing a pretty good job of being gentle until Raph suddenly exploded.

"When is Leo getting back!" Raph yells out of nowhere.

Mikey's hand clamped on tightly to a lock of my hair and he yanked it backwards, causing it to hit the back of the chair.

"Oops! Sorry." He says in a small voice.

A few feet away from us, Raph tossed the poor remote across the room and began to pace. There's another clap of thunder accompanied by a flash of lighting and I jump. The TV as well as the lights in the flicker off.

"Relax, I'll call him." Don said calmly as he fished out his shell cell and pushed a button. He held it to his ear and moments later pulled it away, his paled slightly and he dialed again only to repeat the action. Once he had called a third time, he tossed phone on the coffee table in frustration. "He isn't answering." He said. He gulped and sat down in the chair. He grabbed his shell cell and pushed another button. He just stared at the screen for a moment before he became irritated again and tossed it away. "His shell cell isn't giving off a signal, something is wrong."

"That's it. We _have _to go look for him. He's been gone too long." He yelled. He already looked ready to clobber something. His hand was twitching as it hovered over his sai.

"I think I have to go with Raph on this one, Sensei. It's been too long since we've heard from him and that storm isn't getting any better."

Master Splinter is quite for a few moments. He glances at each of his remaining sons and sighs. "Very well, my sons. Just please be safe." Master Splinter said, with a rueful look on his face.

"We will sensei. We'll call if we find anything." Don said with a small bow, and a reassuring smile. He exchanged a look with his brother and they all silently agree their ready to go.

I take a couple of steps away and head to the couch and in those couple of steps, several things happen at once.

I hear glass shatter out of nowhere and a large thud. I looked back and saw Leo lying on the ground. He was bloody, bruised and wasn't moving at all. His skin had become paler than my own and his chest rose fell much to slowly for my comfort. Or anyone's comfort for that matter.

Everything my body had been doing at the moment came to a halt. I wasn't able to process any thoughts, I wasn't able to crawl over to him and see if he was okay, I wasn't even able to scream. I could only sit there, frozen like a statue as my eyes permanently glued themselves to Leo's battered form.

The blood was everywhere. His mask was soaked with it, it covered his plastron, his legs, his arms, and had begun to sink into the white carpet below him.

His brothers and Master Splinter all rushed to his side. But, me. I was a still frozen. A prisoner of my own shock and fear.

"Leo! Leo, who did this to you!" Raph demanded. His gruff and urgent voice bought me out of my state of shock and I crawled over to Leo's side. I touched the side of his face and almost yanked my had away. It was like touching ice. Leo opened his mouth to respond but instead only coughed up blood and moaned. Raph drew his Sais and stormed toward the window. "When, I find the bastard that did this-

"Raph…"

Raph instantly turned at the sound of Leo's voice and returned to his side and took his hand. "Leo, who did this? Tell me!"

"It was…it was…..it was the Shredder….he's back." Leo managed to moan. I saw the other's faces go white.

"This is impossible. No one should have able to survive that!" Master Splinter said in a shaky voice. "We must get him out here! There might have been-

More glass broke, and foot ninjas began pouring in through the windows and foot ninja start to flood in. Soon enough, we were surrounded. "So…what's the plan?" Mikey asked as he drew his nunchuks.

Raph twirled his sais in his hands then took a defensive stance. "No plan. Just kick ass." He growled. He lunged at the foot ninja nearest to him and shoved the tip of his sai through his throat. He pulled it back out and blood was dripping form it. He kicked him away and moved on to his next target.

Raph just killed someone.

I always knew the guys knew the skills to kill someone and could do it very easily but never did I think they'd actually do it. And with such ease too. They may be mutants but they're still 16 year-olds. Still kids yet here they are, picking off ninjas with ease one by one. I look across the room and watch as Mikey brings his nunchuks down on the top of one ninja's head. He falls to the ground in a heap and Mikey moves on to the next one with no problem. The joy I'm usually used to seeing is gone. It's almost as if he's a different person entirely.

I want to sit there and stay shocked but, I force my self into my feet and will them to move.

When my path was clear, I quickly made my way over where Leo was lying behind the couch, Master Splinter is fending off foot ninjas and Don doing his best to tend to him. I was almost there when I felt a sharp pain in my leg and I fall to the floor, cutting my hands on stray shards of glass. I look at my leg and find blood pouring from a small cut. Just a few inches away from me was a blood stained ninja star. The culprit was making his way over me, katana raised, ready to take my head off. Before he was able to do any damage, Raph leaped in front of me and drove the blade of his Sai into the side my attacker's temple.

There's no time to thank Raph because he's already vanished. Promising myself to do it later on, I continue to make my way to where Don and Leo are.

There's a gurgling sound and a thud, but I don't turn around to see the damage. I only crawl over to Leo, and when I saw him, I could barely stop the bile from rising in my throat, from the coppery smell of the blood that was oozing from two, parallel, five inch, gashes on his head. He had snatched the throw blanket from off the couch and ripped into two pieces, one to wrap his leg and another for arm. His whipped around as he desperately looked for something else to use.

I took off the sweater I was wearing over tank-top and handed it to Don. "This should help with the gashes on his head." I stated. Don muttered a thank you and took the sweater from me. He began to press it against the wound and tie the sleeves around tightly. "That won't hold for long, but it's something. We need to get him out of here." He said tying one final knot.

I looked over at the front door, which was free of any ninjas. "Cover me while, I'll get him downstairs."

"April I don't think-

"She is right Donatello. It is the best option." Master Splinter said as he kicked a foot ninja several feet away from him. Don reluctantly nodded in agreement and helped me get Leo to his feet. I threw one of his arms over my shoulder and began to half drag; half carry him towards the door. It's only a few feet away from where am, but hauling along a mutant turtle who was weighed twice as much as I did, made it feel like walking across the Sahara, with an elephant on my back.

By time I finally reach the door, the last foot ninja had been taken down. Don came over to the door and motioned for me to step back a few feet. I obeyed and the second he opened he opened the front door, three other ninjas rushed in only to be taken out by a Bo staff. "C'mon!" Don shouted as he made his way out the door out the door and down stairs with us following behind.

"April, stay here with Leo. We'll take care of these guys, and let you know when the coast is clear." Don said. I look away for two seconds and when I turn back, they're gone.

I haul Leo behind the stairs to conceal him better. I plop on the floor and place his on my lap.

I shudder as the blood from his head soaks through my sweater and onto my lap. I look down at the once white sweater, that now a dark scarlet color. I moan and hit the back of my head against the wall. My heart is beating about a million times faster than it should be and even though I haven't done much, my face is beaded with sweat.

From what I can hear, the guys have their hands full in the shop with ninjas and it's not going very well. And here I am, all alone and completely defenseless with their injured brother. "What could possibly go wrong." I muttered to myself.

Dammit! Why'd I have to go and say that?

I suddenly felt something tap me on my shoulder. I whipped my head around and saw what may just be the biggest man on the planet. He was at least seven and a half feet tall and looked like he weighed a ton. He had blond hair that was styled in a braid that fell to his shoulders. His eyes fell to Leo and he smiled, he looked back up at me and his smile grew even wider. I did my best to keep my body from trembling but it of course disobeyed me and exposed all of my fear to this man.

"This can go one of two ways, sweetness." He said stepping closer. "You can either hand the freak over like a good little girl, _or _you can try to be a hero." He stopped and sized me up with another grin. "I would suggest that you go with the first choice because I would _hate _to have to rearrange that pretty little face of yours."

"Back off!" I yell at him in the most intimidating voice I could manage. But it sounded more like I was trying to get a kindergartner down for naptime than scare off a living mountain.

The large man chuckled. "You got guts little girl. Too bad I'm gonna have to spill them all over the place." He came one step closer and I panicked. I looked around for anything I could use against him. All I can find is an umbrella.

I grabbed it by the handle and swung it in the mountain man's direction. I expected to be victorious and land a perfect hit but before I even came close to hitting him he grabbed my arm and yanked me to me to my feet with such force, he almost ripped it out of its socket.

He grabs Leo by the back of his neck and yanks him off the ground with his free hand. Before I can do anything to stop him, not that I would have been able if I tried, he throws Leo straight through the door and into the Shop. All of the fighting stops and I hear Leo's family swarm him in concern.

He strode forward effortlessly dragging me behind him despite how hard I tried to wiggle away from him and pounded on his arm. Once inside the shop he yanks my arms behind back, making any form of move movement hopelessly impossible, as well as any possibility of blood being able to travel through my arms.

Don's gaze darted from Leo to me. He looked at Hun and snarled. "Let her go, Hun!"

Before he is able to do anything to help, the front door flies off its hinges, and in walks a man wearing a metal suit of armor that has spikes just about everywhere. Beady, red eyes poke out from a slit in his mask. The room becomes dead silent when he enters and the temperature drops. I feel terror and dread overwhelm me just by looking at him.

"Shredder…" Raph mutters. The Shredder laughs humorlessly as he looks around him. "Are you not happy to see me Raphael?" He teased. His voice sounded the way Darth Vader's would if he were talking through a fan.

Out of nowhere, I feel myself crumble. What little, confidence or composure I had left had disappeared. It became hard for my heart to beat correctly. As if it hesitated each time in fear that the Shredder detected it he'd silence it for good.

"It is time that we end this once and for all. You may have defeated me once, but you will not defeat me again! I vowed that I would get revenge on you freaks and _nothing _will get in my way! Especially not some, _woman _you thought you could hide behind!" He turned his attention to me and even though I couldn't see his face, I could tell he was smirking as if he sensed me fear and it pleasured him. "You tried to run and hide but you accomplished nothing. All you did was post-pone your demise. And now that I have you right where I want you. My only regret is that I did not leave your brother with enough strength to watch you _die_."

He turns to me again and silently examines me for a few moments. He then looks at to Hun, as he had recently been identified and nods.

Before I have enough time to wonder what the strange exchange meant, a huge hand grabs me by my neck and constricts. I feel my feet leave the ground and I'm slammed into the wall. I choke and gasp as he begins to strangle me. In the corner of my eye, I can barely see the Shredder looming over Leo and I realize in horror what he was doing.

He was making them choose. The guys were trying to get to Leo and I through the ninjas but there were too many of them. By the time one of them was able to reach one of us, the other would be dead.

I see green figures try and approach either me or Leo several times but before they can reach me, a ninja intercepts them.

I helplessly claw at the hand around my throat but I can feel my limbs becoming limp. Black dots start to cloud my vision, and I can barely hear the sound my desperate gasps for air as the life is squeezed out of me. Stars start to dance in front of me as my vision gets hazy. I hear my name called one last time, and the sound of sinister laughter, and then, my vision goes black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Casey:**

I am officially into redheads.

Probably not what should be going through my mind right now but hey, I'm a full-blooded, American, _man_ I can't help but immediately fall in love with a woman I've never met before in my entire life and don't know a thing about besides the fact we're going to be married someday.

Just an hour ago, I sitting at home watching cops, eating chips and drinking a beer when I my phone rang. I initially ignored the call figuring it was another one of those greedy, blood-sucking bill collectors. I changed my mind however when Raph left me a voice mail telling me to, and I quote; "Get of my ass and answer the goddamn phone!"

That my cue to drop everything and answer. It took about two seconds for me to rush over to the location he gave me and start bashing heads.

I headed over there thinking that this was going to be like any other normal night. Show up. Hit stuff. Go home. It was pretty basic routine I had gotten use to over the years and had come to like, but unfortunately for me my plan fell apart almost immediately when I showed up.

The ninjas were new, for one. And they were _everywhere_. And they were _winning_. The big guy in the metal suit was new too. And of course the pretty redhead lady was too.

I probably would have just stood there trying to figure out I had showed up at the right place or accidently wandered on the set of a bad action movie if I hadn't noticed Hun.

He was standing in the middle of the room with the redhead. He had one of his huge hands clamped around her neck and shoved her against the wall, elevated a few inches above the floor. Her arms were weakly clawing at his fingers, in attempt to uncoil them from her neck, but with no prevail. Her movements began to slow down as her body starts going slack. Hun grins evilly as he watches her die in his hand.

So what do I do?

To be honest, I can't really give a straight answer. After my vision went red all I remember is crashing through the window on bike and running right into Hun.

The good news is, he flew backwards and crashed into a counter with a cash register and slumped down onto the floor. The redheaded woman fell to the floor and began to gasp her hair as she gently rubs her neck. There's a thick red line going around her neck, making it look like she got a really bad sunburn. But other than that she seems fine. She looks up at me and looks me over with eyes the color of lush grass in springtime. She looked as if she was trying to decide if she should be happy that I just crashed through a window on a motorcycle and crashed into someone and reward me with a kiss or if she should pepper spray me and call the cops.

Rather than do any of those things she just nods and rushes over to Leo who looks like had been used as a piñata at a kids birthday party, but instead of using regular old sticks they used spiked clubs. She grabs him under his arms and begins to drag to safety behind the counter.

The bad news is this apparently upset the other ninjas in the room because about four of charged with weapons in their hands that reminded me of the ones I used to see on cartoons every Saturday morning as a kid.

Hun fixed his eyes on me growled. Someone had apparently roughed him up early on before I got here. His clothes were torn and he had cuts and bruises all over him. He snarled and got to his feet and began to come my way.

Master Splinter and the others begin fighting the other ninjas and the pointy suit guy, leaving me with Hun to deal with.

"You've gotta work on that bad habit you have of not staying dead, Jones." He says as he cracks fist.

I took two hockey sticks out my golf bag and spun them in my hands. "Yeah, well you gotta work on that bad habit _you _have of not being able to stay in the zoo with the other apes. Now I'm gonna give you two seconds walk your big ass out of here before I have to kick it out."

Hun chuckled and gave me a bloody grin. "You remind me so much of your old man. He talked a big talk be couldn't back up before I put him down for good too. Like father, like son."

That was the final straw.

I swung one of my hockey sticks with every ounce of strength in me. They swung through, the air preparing to strike Hun right across the face.

Just before it hit him, he caught it in his hand snatched away from me. He countered with the exact move I made on him. I dove to the side at the last minute and managed to face-plant the ground just before my head could get taken off by my own hockey stick.

I really hope that redhead chick wasn't watching. It definitely hadn't been one of my smoothest movements, and I already didn't have, many of those one my track record.

Hun walks over to me and raises his foot over my head. Just as he brings it down I roll out of the way and reach back to golf bag and grab the first my hand lands on. My hand retreats bag to me with an iron driver.

I hit Hun in the back of his calf with the crown of the golf club. He yells out just about every curse word known to man and hisses as he clutches his leg. I take the opportunity and roll to my feet while he's hunched over. I raise the golf club over his back and bring back down as hard as I can on his back. He crumples down onto one knee.

All I have to do now is make one final swing in the back of his head and he's done for. But of course, since I'm me, it goes against the laws of the universe for things to be that easy.

Just as I'm about to make my victory swing, a chain wraps around my wrists and yanks me backwards flat onto my back. My golf club abandons me and rolls slides about a yard out my reach.

Stupid wimpy golf club.

I look above me and see a ninja with a sword raised above my head. He's about to plunge it down into my skull, but just as he's about to, a green foot slams into his head and a matching knee cab is driven into his gut. The ninjas hunches over giving the foot another opportunity to kick him in the head and falls over limply.

Raph looks down at me and shakes his head. He kneels down next to me and pulls out his sai. I don't even know my hands are free until he grabs one of them and pulls me to my feet.

"You do know I called you over here so you could help us beat these guys, right? Not so I could spend all night saving your sorry ass from them." He says as he hands me my golf club.

That's Raph talk for, _Glad you're okay!_

"Yeah, about that," I start. Another ninjas runs over to me but I hit him the head with my golf club and he falls down just as another one tries the same thing. "You gonna fill me in on any of this? Who these guys are. What happened to Leo. Who's the dude in the stupid pointy suit. Who your hot friend is."

Raph leaped into the air and did a split kick, taking out to ninjas at once. The second he lands, he locks another one in a headlock, as another one charges. He tries to kick Raph in the head, but Raph swings the ninja he has in the head in front of him and uses him as a shield, right before he punches the other one in face and sweeps his legs from under him with a swift kick.

"They're the Foot Clan. He was ambushed. That's Shredder. Her name is April, and you're not her type. Any other questions?"

"Nope, I think I'm good."

"Good, now get back out there. Your friend's waking up."

He leaves my side and runs over the counter and takes a ninjas that got too close to Leo and April. I look over and see Hun staggering toward me and he doesn't look very happy.

"You're a dead man Jones!" He yells. He opens his mouth and makes a sound like a dying elephant as he charges with his fist raised.

The good thing about being a toothpick compared to this guy is that I'm faster. I dodge his fist with no hassle at all and manage to sock him right in the eye which immediately turns purple and starts to swell.

He pays me back with a punch to the face. I taste blood in my mouth and I think I feel a tooth wiggle. He grabs me by the front of my shirt and hefts me off the ground and slams me into the wall. Hard.

My body goes slack and he tosses me behind him right into, wouldn't you know it, another ninja. I back up and the two of them begin to close in me. I pull out another driver and back away a little further.

This just ain't my night.

I swing to my right at Hun. He avoids the hit and the foot ninja that tagged along with him kicks me in the stomach. I stagger backwards and look back up at Hun and the ninja.

I'm, able to see past them at the counter and notice a foot ninja quietly approaching it with a dagger in his hand. Don sweeps him away from the counter just in time. I sigh and relief but I immediately look away and try to compose myself, but its too late.

He looks back at me and grins evilly. "So you worried about the freak over there with the chick huh? How about I go over there and fix that?"

He swats me backwards in the wall and begins to make his way over to the counter. You'd think that being bitch slapped in the chest by wanna be King Kong would have out me for good. Or at least that's what the ninja thought. He wasn't expecting me to immediately spring to me feet and therefore wasn't able to avoid the golf club that hit him in the face.

It sucks that he was wearing a mask because I would have loved to have seen the blood gushing from his nose. I could use a good spirit booster right about now.

I charge over the counter where Hun is looming over April and Leo. A grim smirk on his ugly face.

Leo's a good friend to me. He's been that that way since we met, I refuse to let him die at the hands of Hun. I have no idea who April is, but same goes for her. I ain't letting anyone else die by the hands of that monster.

I'm only a few feet away from the counter when once again, my luck runs out. Another ninja lands in front of me, but this one looks different than the others. Tougher and little less human. Glowing, red eyes glare at me from behind a dark, concealed face.

I swing my club but in the time it takes me blink, he's not only dodges me, but he also disarms me, punches me about seven times and knocks me flat on my back. I lift my head up as far I can manage and try to get a good look at Hun. I watch as he drops Leo and April on the ground right in front of him.

He looks over at me and says, "Thought I'd let you get a better look so you can enjoy the show better." He stalks closer to Leo and April. April backs up until she hits a shelf. Nowhere to go. She mutters something under her breath and then does the last thing I expect.

She steps in front of Leo and firmly stands her ground.

"Back _off_." She hisses through her clenched, perfect teeth. So white and straight. If we live through this, I'm gonna have to complement those in a pick-up line.

Hun raises an eyebrow and laughs. "You're cute. Stupid and spunky. I like that. I almost don't wanna kill you." He looks her up and down with a sinister smile on his face. "Maybe I won't. Pretty girl like you, could come in handy from time to time."

For me, that was the _other _ final straw. I try to stand and charge him, but ninja 2.0 stomps on my chest and forces me back onto my back. He places his foot firmly on my chest and it feels as if an overweight elephant just sat on me.

April on the other hand didn't looked fazed at all. She set her jaw and her eyes narrowed. "I'd prefer death." She says.

I almost want to slap her. Here I am trying to save her so we can spend the rest of our lives together, and she's over there pretty much signing her own death certificate.

Hun's good eye twitches in anger and he raises his fist.

"Lights out, little girl." He grumbles. I lay there and watch in horror as he fist races towards her face. It would only take one hit to do her in. Girl's like five foot nothing and can't weigh more than 120 pounds. Anyone in this room, could snap her in half like a twig if they wanted to.

Hun fist is inches from her fist and I think, "It's over."

But at the last minute she raises both her hands and blocks. I hear a loud, blood-curdling scream of pain and fear the worst. It a chill down my spine. So loud, deep and gravelly…wait a minute? Gravelly? Deep? Chicks don't sounds like that!

I look up and what I see confuses the hell out of me. Not that that's very hard to do.

Not only are April and Leo perfectly fine, but Hun is staggering around the shop with his fist bleeding. Blood oozed from it nonstop. It was like water running from a faucet. "You _bitch_! I'm gonna fucking kill your ass, you hear me! You're mine!" Hun whines as he clutches his bleeding fist.

I look back at April and I see why.

In her hands is a bloody dagger. The same one that belonged to the ninja Donnie gave a face full of Bo Staff when he got too close to her and Leo.

She looks like a crazy woman. Bloody dagger in her hand, eyes wild, mouth in the shape of a snarl and she's breathing heavily through her nose. Her bright red hair is hanging in a tangled mess down her back and around her face. Her milky colored skin glistens with sweat and there's a blood stain seeping through her jeans.

Absolutely beautiful.

Her cave woman eyes dart to the shelf behind her and she grabs a large vase. Hun, who was staggering over to her yet again, doesn't know what she was she gonna do until she threw the vase and it crashed into his face. (Heh. Heh. That rhymed).

Hun stops in his tracks and sways little. He moans and then his eyes roll to the back of his head. He falls to ground with such an impact that the entire room seems to shake.

I felt Ninja 2.0 lighten up on me a little. He's starting ahead of him in awe, eyes darting from April to Hun who is lying motionless on the floor at her feet as he tries to figure out if he had actually seen her do what she just did. From the look on April's face, she's thinking the same thing.

I take the opportunity and jab him in the back of his knee with my elbow. He stumbles sideways, giving me the perfect opportunity to get to my feet. I kick him backwards right into Raph's path, who puts him to sleep with a kick to the face.

I only just now notice just how many ninjas the guys were able to take out. Ninjas in black are scattered all over the place as well as three other ninja 2.0' 's still a good bit left standing, and of course the Shredder. They all look slightly stunned by they just witnessed.

I don't blame them. I don't blame them one bit.

Even Shredder let his guard down for a split second. A split-second too long apparently. Master Splinter leaps into the air and kicks him backwards. He stumbles and Don swings his Bo Staff and knocks him into a shelf. He falls forward onto his face and the shelf comes with him and lands right on top of him.

"He ain't gonna stay down for long!" Raph says as he knocks a foot ninjas away from him.

"Which exactly why we must retreat." Master Splinter replies. A ninja charges towards, and but he just hits him in the face with tail.

April looks around the shop and her eyes land on a door behind the counter. She looks back at everyone and has a silent conversation with all of us. She bends down and grabs Leo but stumbles a little under his feet. Raph rushes over to her and takes Leo away from her, thanking her with nod as Master Splinter and Mikey and Raph run inside t

"I've got this, go do your thing." He says.

"Thanks." She says. She looks over and examines as me as she's still deciding if she should pepper spray me or not. She's apparently recovered the sanity she lost a few minutes ago. She doesn't necessarily look better, but less insane. Her big, bright green eyes are tired and exhausted, with bags under them, but despite that still seem to shine. Her voice is no longer tense and angry, but now soft and distressed sounding.

"Hey! Make goo-goo eyes later you too! We gotta go!" Mikey calls from inside the room. Everyone else has already huddled in there.

We both take off without another word across the shop. I make it with no problem but I can't say the same for April.

As she runs past Hun's "unconscious" body. He suddenly reaches out and grabs her leg and she tumbles to the floor. Hun looks up and glares at her. Bits and pieces of porcelain are lodged in his face which is pinkish and swollen. He looks like a giant, pissed off raspberry.

Raph and I are both prepared to pummel him, but before we can, April releases a feral scream and kicks Hun in the face, jamming her the high-heel of her leather boots into his nose. He moans and lets go, allowing her to leap to her feet. I can already tell she's gone in crazy mode again. If her eyes going all cave woman again didn't give it away, then way she stared kicking his face like a it was a soccer ball was.

Raph and I exchange glances asking each other what to do.

"What's the holdup back here dudes! We need to get of here ASA-

Mikey trails off when he sees April kicking Hun's face in and begins to watch in silent awe. If Shredder hadn't started to get up, we probably would have let her go all night. Kick her little heart out. But when he heard him moan and starting trying to push the shelf off, we decide that's it time to go.

I grab her around her waist and heft her up. She doesn't try and break away, not that she could have if she tried. Not bragging or anything. Just saying. It's a fact.

She…_somehow_ pushes away from me and kicks Hun in the head one last time. Never mind about that thing I said before…

I have to grab her again and haul her inside as she yells a string of curse words at Hun.

She looks up at me, her eyes wild and dangerous. I immediately drop her and back off, my hands raised in surrender.

Everyone in the room stares at her in shock as she spits hair out of her mouth and tries to regain her composure. Inhaling and exhaling deep breaths.

Her eyes scan the room again and she jogs over to a large box in the corner of the rooms. She shoves it out of the way and reveals a large vent cover behind it.

"This will be big enough for all of us to fit through if we can get it off." She says between deep breaths. She sounds completely sane, almost as if she didn't just have a complete _meltdown _in front of everyone.

Raph approaches and motions for her to step back right before he kicks the cover in. He crawls through first and theirs another thud as he knocks out the last cover. "Its clear, out here come on!" His voice calls back. Don crawls through first with Leo, followed by April, Mikey, Master Splinter and then me. Once we're all put, we jog over to an alley where we all simultaneously collapse.

"Okay…" Mikey says earning everyone's attention. "_That _was not very pleasant."

Raph scowls and punches Mikey in the arm. "Not now, doofus." He says as he kneels down next to Leo. He looks over him and I swear that even in the darkness of the alley I see his shoulders shake slightly as if he's crying.

"We need a plan." He says, his voice cracking as he talks. He clears his throat and swallows. "Somewhere to hideout or something until we get things figured out."

"Where are gonna go?" Mikey asked. "We sure as hell can't go back to the lair, and I doubt we could just stroll back into April's place later on."

As if on cue, the building explodes behind us.

I tackle April to the ground and cover her body with mine as bricks are hurdled toward us by the explosion. The ground shakes below us, and a massive wave heat crashes into us. Bits and pieces of burning material land around us. A few manage to hit me. Despite the fact that not much of my skin is exposed, I can still feel my flesh start to burn as I'm hit with flaming chunk after flaming chunk of who knows what.

After a few seconds it finally stops. I flop onto my back and start to roll around in the snow like a freaking dog. I immediately feel horrible about just leaving April. I look over and check on her to as if she's okay, but she's just staring ahead of her with an unreadable expression on her face. She doesn't move a single muscle. She just there, completely still like a statue.

Already, we can hear sirens in the distance rushing toward the building as it burns to the ground.

Sirens. A burning home. A fight with Hun. Me frozen in shock.

Memories begin to flood my head. Bits and pieces of a grim childhood moment. I push the memory from my head. This ain't about me.

Master Splinter approaches April and kneels down next to her. She still hasn't moved or spoke or anything. Master Splinter gently turns her heard so she can face him. Her eyes are puffy and red and her face is wet with tears.

"April…I am very sorry but…we must leave immediately." He says solemnly.

April exhales shakily and dips hers her head, but nods in understanding.

"Leave and go where?" Raph barks angrily.

"We can head back to my place. It's not too far from here. Just a few blocks that way." I point down the alley going in the opposite direction of the shop. Everyone in the alley turns and faces me expecting me to go on.

"I have a plan, but we can't talk about here. We have get somewhere _somewhat _safe." I say.

Everyone exchanges glances wearily and when no one suggests anything better, Master Splinter turns to me and nods. Very well, Mr. Jones. Lead the way."

April slowly gets to her feet and hugs herself tightly. She's doesn't look up at anyone. She just takes off silently down in the alley in the opposite direction. I start after her but a hand on my shoulder stops me. I look over and see Raph shaking his head at me.

"You ain't gonna get nothing out of her, right now. Believe me. Just…give her some time, alright." He says. I almost object but then I remember that they have known the girl several months longer than I have. So I just nod. But still can't shake the urge to go after her.

Without another word, we all silently follow her. I take one final look behind us at the Shop. Firemen have arrived and are trying to put the fire out. Nosy and concerned citizens have crowded onto the street in their pajamas to observe the damage. There's no sign of the foot or Hun coming out the building. They're either dead, or escaped the wreckage.

I would prefer the first one.

A voice sharply calls my name and I bring myself back to reality. I clench my fist and take off down the alley after the others. As I run after them, I make a silent promise to myself.

Before I breathe my last breath, these guys were going to pay with their pathetic, little lives for what they did tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

**Donatello**

When you aren't sneaking around alley ways, constantly looking back to check for ninjas that might be following you, all while hauling an injured person along with you, it would only take about ten minutes to get from April place to Casey's apartment building.

But given our situation it almost six times longer than it should have. When we finally got there, everyone looked as if they were two seconds from collapsing wherever they wanted. Thankfully, we made it Casey's before it could happen.

Casey's place wasn't much. It was small, cramped and crowded with dirty laundry, but it was good enough for the time being. Besides, I live in a sewer. I shouldn't really be complaining.

Once we get inside and maneuver our way across the maze of sports magazines and socks, we finally make it over to the couch where set Leo down. I look down at him and a lump forms in my throat.

He's actually gotten worse. Much worse.

His skin is now the color of ash. His cuts are no longer bleeding but are swollen and oozing pus. I'm sure he has about a million fractured bones and probably a concussion. I feel my palms start to sweat and my heart begin to speed up.

I'm use to treating injuries like this. My brothers always came back from patrol with one of theses things wrong with them. But the difference between now and then, I have to treat all of those injuries at once and the patient, my brother, is already half dead.

April offers to help me with cleaning the wounds and patching him up. She sounds determined to lend a hand but her body suggest otherwise. If someone were to walk up to her and say, "_Hey! You look tired, Miss. How about you take a nice long nap on my flaming bed of spikes?" _ She looks as if she would gladly take the opportunity without a second of hesitation. Dark circles are under her bloodshot eyes. They're still red and wet from her crying. I notice for the first time that she has blood seeping through her pants from a cut on her leg, that she managed to hide from me this entire time. Her hair is a wild and tangled mess on her head and her body is covered with sweat.

I'm ashamed to say that I had no idea what to tell her. On one hand, I needed all the help I could get. The sooner I get this done the better. And this was my brother after all, he should come before everyone. No matter what. But one the other hand, it would be unbelievably cruel for me to say yes.

April had just watched her home get raided and burned down by the Foot Clan. Even though, it was all over, I could still tell she was scared. I'd seen the way she had crumbled when the Shredder entered the shop. It wasn't easy to see that. She's normally bold, and confidant and brave. She had been like that just a few hours ago. Chipper and pleasant. But early this morning seemed like years ago. In the few hours had taken for her lose everything; she had aged about ten years.

No, I'll handle this on my own. Besides, even if he was half-dead and horribly injured, if Leo was conscious he would probably demand she go get some rest and then slap me for not telling her that in the first place.

"I think I've got things covered here, April. Why don't you go lie down somewhere and get some rest?" I say. Leo winces and grunts slightly. Probably his half-dead, unconscious way of telling her go lay down or else. The thought, brings a small smile to my face.

"You could go and lie down in my bed if you want. It's clean in there…I think. Clean _enough_." He says kindly but stupidly. He laughs nervously and points at a door across the room. "Straight through there."

Leo grunts again and this time I can't hold back a chuckle at my own inside joke. Raph eyes me and his eyes narrow.

"What the hell so funny?" He demands in a stone cold voice. I l clear my throat and shake my head.

"Nothing, sorry." I mumble. I look over at April again and nod towards the bedroom. "Go. Sleep. _Now_."

"Or else." Raph adds on in his signature. _Do what I say or I'll hurt your face_ voice.

Master Splinter elbows him and meets April with kind eyes. "Please, my child. I cannot ask any more from you than I already have at this time. You must rest."

This time, April nodded and stood up. She doesn't argue. She _never _argues with Splinter. She tried it once a few weeks ago when she was trying to convince him to go on patrol with us since she was "oh so bored." That ended with a stare down between the two that ended up getting uncomfortable for everyone. Ever since then, Sensei has only had to tell her things once. She drags her feet across the floor and over to the bedroom door. She walks inside and there's a thump as she collapses onto the mattress.

Casey quietly shuts the door behind and comes back into the living room, and I immediately get to work. Mikey goes and grabs some towels for me while, Raph boils some water.

"Casey, you have a first aid kit right?" I asked him.

"Yup, the same one you made sure I bought when you stalked me to the drugstore store that night." He says as he walks back down the hall. Sure enough, he returns with a large first aid kit. I looked inside and everything is perfectly intact. It doesn't look like this thing has ever been used. It's not very surprising though, seeing as how Casey always shows up at our place to get patched up when he's injured. That's why I told him to get this thing in the first place. Bonehad.

I squirt some hand sanitizer in my hands and hand the bottle to Master Splinter. I grab the sterilizer just as Mikey and Raph back with the boiling water and towels. As Master Splinter and I get to work, cleaning the wounds, Mikey, Raph and Casey find somewhere in the room to collapse.

"So, Casey you said you had a plan? Let's hear it." I said as I started on a gash.

"We're doomed." Mikey muttered under his breath.

Casey glared in his direction but ignored him. "So, I have this farmhouse up in Northampton-

"I'm gonna go ahead and stop you right there, Case. Northampton? As in Massachusetts? That's almost a three hour drive how the hell we gonna get there? Hitchhike?"

"I can get transportation, okay?" Casey yelled back in an irritated voice.

Mikey shhhed him frantically and tip-toed over the bedroom door and peeked inside. He sighed in relief and closed the door back. "You'll wake April up! You do _not _want to wake her up."

"She can't be any worse than, Raph!" Casey shot back in a yell again. Mikey shhhed him again he rolled his eyes. "She can't be any worse than, Raph!" He says again in a sharp whisper.

"Yeah, she can." Raph assures in a firm voice. "You think her meltdown on Hun was bad…"

"Can we please focus!" I say, surprisingly silencing everyone. "Thank, you." I turned back to Casey. "So you were saying about transportation?"

"Right! I've got a truck with a semi-trailer in a garage across town. I can get that and we'll head up north that way." Casey said.

I nodded but cocked my head sideways as I wrapped a gauze around, Leo's head. "Why do you own a semi-trailer?"

Casey's face darkened and his fist clenched at his side. "Used to be used in a family business for deliveries and stuff. I've got ownership of it now." He replied in an uneasy tone.

I decide not to push him any further, the details aren't important anyway.

"This farmhouse of yours Mr. Jones, is it by any chance secluded?" Master Splinter asks. Though he does not really seem that concerned. He didn't even look up, all of his focus at the moment is on Leo. I've never seen him like this before, so distant and morose. Of course it's not I like I have to question why, but it still makes me uncomfortable.

"Completely isolated," Casey replies. "She's sitting about five acers of land. The closet neighbor is about a mile and a half away from it. It used to belong to my grandma. No one's been there since she died, but it's still in our name. I can't promise you it's in perfect shape, but it's something. Better than sticking around out here in the city."

"He's right," Mikey says. "It won't be long until old, tin head realizes we didn't bite the dust back there."

"And when he does, he'll have every foot ninja in his entire base looking for us. New York's big, but it ain't _that _big. They'd find us eventually."

"And when they did, we wouldn't stand a chance." I add on.

Pleasant conversation, were having huh?

"Then it is settled, we shall stay at this farmhouse until it is safe for use to return here. But is no telling how long that will be." Master Splinter says grimly as he places a bandage on Leo's leg.

We don't discuss much more after that, Casey slips out and heads over to the garage to get the truck and trailer he told us about. The hour and a half he's gone is agonizing but he returns safely, with decent transportation.

We begin preparing to leave immediately. Grabbing blankets, medical supplies, snacks. Whatever we can find to make the trip easier on us. By now, all of Leo's wounds have been treated and some of the color starts to return to his body. He starts to warm up a little more and his breathing and heart rate are back normal. I'm not completely okay with taking him to another state quite yet, but can't afford to wait much longer. By the time we're ready to go, it's about mid-night. About three hours since the Shredder attacked April's building and nearly killed us all.

I head over to the bedroom to and get April up; I'm not surprised that Casey decides to follow. We find her the same we had left her an hour ago. Snoring lightly, and curled up in a worn wool blanket. I had Mikey treat her leg while I fixed Leo up in the living room. I'm about to wake her up, when Casey stops me.

"Let her sleep. I don't feel like getting my faced kicked in." He says.

That gets a smile and a small laugh out of me. I watch as he grabs a rubber band off his dresser. He sits on the bed next to her and begins to gather all the hair together that covered her face and pulls it back into a neat ponytail. As he's doing this, he stops and glares at the red mark around her neck from Hun tried to strangle her to death. He looks up at me and says, "You think those guys are dead? That was a big bang back there."

"That _they _caused. I have no doubt whatsoever that they escaped from the building. The Foot Clan is very crafty."

Casey snarls as he maneuvers around to the other side of the bed. He bends down, and in the gentlest I've ever seen him be with anything, he lifts April into his arms. She stirs a little and makes a cute little whimpering noise, but doesn't wake up. Casey adjust her that her head is resting her on his shoulder.

"Well that sucks. So we'll be seeing those guys again when they find out we aren't dead?" He asks.

"All signs point to yes." I replied bitterly.

Casey sighs and shakes his head. "Hey, we'll figure that out when the time comes." He says with a small smile. "I'm really sorry about what you're going through right now, Donnie. When you and your folks bounce back, I'm coming with you."

I give Casey a smile and place a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, Casey."

We stand there awkwardly for a moment until April breaks the tension with another cute moan before she snuggles closer into Casey's shoulder.

I smirk at him and frowns.

"Don't even start." He warns.

I throw my hands up in surrender and step aside as he leaves the room with April, but he stops right in front of the doorway.

"What's wrong?" I ask him. He looks down at April and frowns.

"I gotta find a way to get past Mikey without him seeing this." He says seriously. I roll my eyes and shove him. "Oh just go."

Casey frowns and stomps out the bedroom with April still sleeping in his arms. Mikey looks up, takes one look at them and grins. He nudges Raph who looks up form a sports magazine. Raph notices and does the same thing. It felt good to see him smile, even if it was at the expense of Casey's dignity.

"Well ain't that _cute_." Mikey chides as he steps closer. "Look! He even did her hair!"

"Damn, Casey. You two ain't dating yet and you're already her man slave." Raph said punching Casey lightly in the arm.

"My sons! That is enough!" Master Splinter says sternly, but I can a wide grin on his face still and a twinkle in his eyes.

Raph and I gather Leo up and make our way downstairs by the fire escape while Casey just leaves through the lobby. This of course means he beats us to the truck. When we finally get down there, we find him standing on the passenger side of truck, adjusting April's blanket. He began stroke her cheek with his thumb and she moaned pleasantly in her sleep.

It was a very cute moment, so of course Mikey had to ruin it by running up behind Casey and making kissing noises. With that, Casey slammed April's door and stormed to the other side of the truck where he angrily fastened himself in.

As for us, we all climbed in the trailer. It was small, cramped, cold and dusty but Casey had got us lamp to keep back here, some snacks, the first aid kit and a walkie-talkie to keep in contact with him. I didn't want to risk any of the signals from out shell-cells being protected.

Casey drove off and the second he did I knew it was gonna be a long ride. We felt every speed bump. every stop, we definitely felt every last minute swerve to avoid an accident Casey had to make because he was staring at April and not the road.

Everything slipped and slid everywhere, at times it took all of us to hold Leo down. We tried to get to sleep but that was just not about to happen. We might as well of tried to sleep on top of a moving airplane.

"This sucks." Raph said. He pulled his blanket tighter around him and shivered. Even though Casey had given us all jackets of his to borrow and whatever blankets we weren't using on Leo, the inside of the trailer was still freezing. It didn't really help that we cold blooded reptiles.

I tried not to think too much about Casey and April sitting in the front seat with nice toasty heat. It only made me even colder and also pretty angry.

"Tell me about it bro." Mikey said as he did the same. "Hey, maybe we should like, cuddle together to conserve body heat."

"I ain't _that _cold, doofus. These may be desperate times, but I still have a rep to keep." He snarled. "Not that I have much rep left to maintain, after we retreated like that."

I sigh. "Raph we didn't have choice. You saw what happened after we left the shop. That would've been us if we had stayed back there."

"I know, I know. There's a time for fight and there's a time for flight. I get that. I don't particularly like it but I get it."

Mikey shakes his head sighs. "What _happened _back there, bros? It felt like the entire time we were fighting a losing battle! We aren't supposed to loose, we're the good guys! It's not fair." He said. In the dim light the lamp gave off, I could see Mikey pouting in the corner of the trailer.

"Life isn't like the comic books you read, Mikey." I reply. Not exactly a reassuring answer, but the truth.

"I wish, if it was I could have just used laser vision to melt the Shredder's helmet to his stupid face." He replies as if it was actually something he was looking forward to doing. He glances over at Leo and sniffles before he takes a sudden interest in the floor.

"He's gonna be fine, Mikey. He's already doing better. Once we get where we're going and he can get some actual rest, he'll be up in almost no time at all." I tell him. He looks up at me, his face still in the form of a pout. He looks like a giant, mutant 2 year-old.

"You think so? There's no _permanent _damage or anything right? How long will it be until he's fully recovered?" He asks in his baby voice.

I shrug. "I dunno, a few weeks maybe. A month perhaps. But there's nothing permanent or anything like that. The worst he had was a concussion from a nasty gash on his head. As long as he just takes it easy for a while, he'll be fine."

"Take it easy? Leo? You sure, _you're _not the one who took a blow to head? The second Leo wakes up, he's not gonna do anything but train until he thinks he's perfect enough to take don the Shredder." Raph says.

"I can assure you that will not happen my son. When you brother awakens it will be everyone's our responsibility to make sure he does not strain himself until he makes a complete recovery. Both physically _and _mentally."

We all nod in response and don't really have much more conversation after that. We were all just sitting there quietly, checking on Leo occasionally when the trailer suddenly came to a stop.

"We're here!" Mikey yells. He springs to his feet and tosses his blanket off. Just as he's about to make a break for the door, Raph grabs the back of his shell and yanks him back down.

"We've only been driving for an hour, idiot! We still have another hundred and something miles to go." He says.

Mikey whines and collapses on the floor. He rolls onto his stomach and begins to throw a tantrum everyone ignores.

There's a loud knock at the door and then a familiar voice says, "Heads up, dudes! Here comes sunlight!"

Before we can door anything, Casey cracks open one of the doors and lets a beam of sunlight in. Master Splinter, Raph and I simply avert our eyes and hiss like normal mutant rats and turtles.

But Mikey, one the other hand screams shields his face. "It burns!"

"Yeah, well that's what you get for spending the past six months of your life, playing video games in the dark for eight hours straight." I say as I crawl over to the door to talk to Casey.

"Why'd we stop?" I ask him.

"We needed a filler up. That and uh…well, I sorta, kinda, maybe got lost and April made me stop and ask for directions." Casey says.

The trailer is silent for a moment. "Can you give us a second?" I ask. I reach out and slam the door to the trailer. Once it's closed securely, all of us, even Master Splinter.

Burst out in laughter. Mikey starts pounding the floor of the trailer and Raph sounds like he started crying. This goes on for about two minutes before we start to calm down and catch our breath. I clear my throat and regain my composure before I open the door again. There's still a wide grin on my face but Casey doesn't look amused at all.

"All done in there?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I think we're good." I say. A small laugh still escapes my throat and Casey's face turns beet read.

"So where are we exactly?" I ask.

"Some little corner store." He says with a shrug. "So how's Leo holding up back there?"

"I wouldn't say good, but he's better. He's still pretty cold and hasn't woken up yet but once we get to the farmhouse I'll take another look another at him." I reply. "Where's April?"

Casey scoffed. "Asking for directions. I sure as hell wasn't about to do it. She's also getting some stuff for you guys."

I nod. "So uh, how's she doing?" I asked Casey. I hear Mikey and Raph scoot a little closer to hear the answer.

"She's been doing better since she had her nap. Not exactly happy, but not depressed or anything. She's hard to read." Casey says with a shrug.

I'm able to translate that into, _she's crushed right now_. April is good at hiding her emotions, whenever she's upset. It gets really frustrating sometimes, when she refuses to open up about something. But I don't tell Casey that. Knowing him he'll try and force her to talk about it and get socked in the face.

Or worse, try and flirt.

I hear other footsteps approaching us and I see April appear next to Casey with a plastic bag in one hand and a map in the other. She offers the map to Casey.

"Okay, turns out you took the wrong exit and drove 20 miles in the opposite direction of our destination. _But _luckily for you, there's a short cut that'll get us there faster." She says.

"I wasn't lost, woman! You were _asleep _for half the ride down here! How you gonna wake up and tell me, I'm lost?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You man! You no get lost and ask puny, old woman for directions! Ug!" April rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Give me a break. Let's just back on the road, and get to the farmhouse as quickly as possible."

"Yeah!" Mikey chimes in. "You're carrying precious cargo back here! And Raph."

Raph just snarls at Mikey. Guess he's too tired to get up and slap him.

"Alright, alright fine! Geesh." Casey says as he stomps off muttering stuff about women and road travel being hell.

April rolls her eyes and groans. She peeks inside and glances around. "You guys, doing alright back here? I feel kinda bad that you have to travel like this." She says as she scans the trailer.

Mikey opens his mouth to reply with a complaint but a stern look from Master Splinter stops him. He turns to April, in a much more gentle manner and says, "We will be fine, until we reach the farmhouse. But you're concern is much appreciated."

April nods and turns to Leo, she runs her hand over his cheek and smiles sadly. "Hang, in there." She says softly. She kisses him lightly on his cheek and pulls herself out of the trailer. She shuts us back in, once again enclosing us in the dark. The sunlight that burned just moments ago, is already sounding pretty good.

Just a few seconds later the truck pulls off again and we're back to being tossed all over the back of the trailer.

"You guys think April's feeling better about…you know, her shop and everything?" Mikey asks after a few minutes of driving.

"She only watched it blow up about a few hours ago, Mikey. You know how much place meant to her. Being her dad's and all." Raph replied.

"Yeah. You know it, really sucks that we got April and Casey dragged into this." Mikey said glumly. I'm pretty sure everyone in the trailer collectively winces as they recall how April's building exploded right after we escaped.

No one responds to that right away, no one really knows how to. We've gotten Casey and April into tight spots before, but we've never gotten them in _this _deep. Casey had to drop everything and haul us to another state for safety.

And April…God, poor April. I can't even think about what happened to her without having being completely overwhelmed with guilt. She happily opens her home to us and what do we do? Get it blown up and nearly get her killed. I'm surprised the two of them don't hate our guts right now.

"We are indeed in our friends' debt. We owe them more than can ever repay." Master Splinter, his voice heavy with sorrow. "I always feared this would happen if we ever befriended humans. After the Foot Clan began to plague us, I thought it best that we abandon our friendship with them. It appears I should have listened to my instincts."

"Master," Mikey starts in a small voice. "You…you aren't blaming yourself for this are you?"

Master Splinter sighs heavily and hesitates before he speaks. "I have come to a conclusion after thinking for a long time." He pauses again and the air becomes thick with tension as we wait for him to speak his next words. "My sons…I am greatly for having to do this and I hope you will forgive me, but I am afraid that when time comes that we are able to return to New York…we will permanently end our relationship with Casey and April."


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/N): As you can probably already tell, we're taking a break from our heroes. But no worries, they'll be back soon. With that said, I really felt we needed **_**something **_**from this character on what was going on with April when her building exploded. I doubt the news about April's shop exploding not too long after her boss tried to kill her would just fly over her head. **

_**Robyn**_

I wish I could go back to the good old days when I woke up to the sound of a blaring alarm clock. It wasn't exactly a paradise but it beats waking up to the sound of a crying, eight-month old baby at the crack of dawn. But hey, that's what I get for being a single mother. Little Brandon's loud crying, startled the dog and she started bark which only caused Brandon to cry louder, and her to bark louder.

I groan and roll out the bed and stomp my way to Brandon's bedroom. I'm tempted to "accidently" trip when I walk by the stairs, but I manage to walk by them and continue down the hallway until I reach Brandon's room. I go over to his crib and find that he has kicked off all his blankets and his plump face is beet red from crying so much, actually no. Not crying, _screaming _not a single tear was on his face and his green orbs were totally dry. He calms down a little when he sees me but that still didn't do my headache any favors.

"Okay, okay. Mommy's here." I cooed as I bent down to scoop him up from his crib. He clings to me tightly when once he's settled in my arms and begins to whimper into my shoulder. I pull him away from me and hold him at arm's length. He stared back at me expectantly with wide green eyes. They looked exactly like, April's. Her name crossing my mind reminds me that I'm way overdue for a video chat session or a phone call.

It's been harder and harder to get into contact with her. Ever since that little "mishap" with her old boss, Baxter Stockman it seems as if we barely get to talk anymore. It doesn't really help that I'm in California and she's on the other side of the country in New York City.

Brandon's babbling snapped me out of my thoughts and I re-focused my attention on him. He had stuck one of his hands in his mouth and was apparently trying to swallow it.

"Alright, let's go get some food in you." I told him. I pulled him closer to me and set him on my hip. "Not that you really _need _any." I tease. I poked his fat belly and he giggled.

That brightened up my horrible morning slightly and I exited his room and went downstairs into the kitchen. I placed him in his high chair and grabbed the box of his favorite cereal, Luck Charms. He'll usually try and get away with just eating all the marshmallows though. But that's no problem, they make him and he runs around all day until he passes out on top of our golden retriever.

He banged on his table impatiently and squealed when he saw the colorful box.

"Alright! Alright! I'm _coming_." I told him. I padded across the floor with the box of sugar in hand. I dumped some on his high chair table and he immediately began shove handfuls of the stuff in his mouth.

I start to feel a little hungry myself and go to refrigerator to hunt for food. The only thing that catches my attention is a cold slice of pizza from last night. Good enough for me.

I grab a slice and hold it between my teeth as I dump some kibble into Blondie's bowl and she begins to eat her breakfast as well.

I make sure to turn on the TV for Brandon and flip through the channels until I see a giant yellow bird on the screen and toss the remote on the counter. Brandon squealed happily and clapped his hands. I look over and glare at him.

"You're gonna pay for making sit through this crap everyday when you're older. You just wait. I'm gonna make sit through _every _episode of Sex and the City and tell all your friends you liked it." I snap at him. He blows a raspberry at me at giggles. He shoves more Lucky Charms in his mouth and glues his eyes to the screen as Big Bird sings about sharing, or counting or whatever the hell they teach kids on this damned show.

Out of nowhere my doorbell rings about thirty times and almost knocks the door off its hinges. I glance over at the clock and see that's it's only 8:30 in the morning. I set my cold pizza down and pull my housecoat around me before I make my way over the door as whoever is in the other side tries to break the record for the amount of times a doorbell has ever been rang in the span of one minute.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" I yank the door open prepared to give the psychopath on the other side a piece of my mind, but what I'm not prepared for is seeing my mother on the other side crying her eyes out. Her face covered in tears; her eyes red, puffy and distressed looking. It looked as if she had just rolled out of bed and ran over her. Her red hair looked like she had walked through a wind tunnel, her clothes were wrinkled and she had mitch-match sneakers on. When she saw me, she pulled me into her arms and rubbed my back.

"Oh, Robyn honey, I'm so worried about her!" She said through her tears. She pulled me away and studied my face. "How are you holding up? Has she called you or anything?" She asked me as she stepped inside. I closed the door behind and wearily followed her into the living room.

"Mom _what _are you talking about? Has who called?" I asked her, as I made my way into the kitchen. She went silent and her face darkened. She followed me into the kitchen and turned me away from the coffee pot to face her. "You mean…you haven't heard? Robyn, it's all over the news they can't find her. The building was burned down and she hasn't been seen since last night."

"_Who_?!" I reply a bit louder and harsher than I intended.

Mom's face fell again and she swallowed. She took my hand and led me into the living room. She sat down on the couch and pulled me down with her. She turned on the TV, which was on the news channel and firmly grasped my hand. I gave her a questioning look, but she grunted at me and pointed at TV.

I rolled my eyes but still looked over at the TV. On the screen, a news reporter is standing in front of a building that apparently was burned down. All that's of it is a charred, black skeleton of the structure that use to stand there. Rubble is everywhere and firefighters are in the background searching through the rubble along with a few cops.

"This Summer McDowell reporting to you live from where just last night, the building behind me was mysteriously burned down."

My eyebrows perk up. "The one right behind you? No shit…"I say. Mom shushes me and I shut up and continue to listen to the reporter.

"Investigators say they have no idea what caused the fire, but were able to conclude that it was no accident. Inside, a gas pipe was found slashed open which, firefighters are certain was a key element used to cause the explosion. There was no sign of any malfunctioning appliances that may have caused the fire, as well as no wiring problems. The destroyed building, the 2nd Time Around was also an apartment. Home to 24-year old April O'Neil, whose body was not found at scene of the crime nor anywhere near it, has officially been declared missing."

I felt Mom's hand constrict around mine and she started to cry again.

"In case you are wondering this is the same April O'Neil who was recently in the news when her boss, Dr. Baxter Stockman, the creator of the mouser robots which he used rob banks was faced with multiple charges, including the charge of the attempted murder of O'Neil. Stockman mysteriously disappeared days before his trail and currently the main suspect in the case, although he has not been in months."

April's picture was enlarged on the screen, and my mouth went dry. I tried to convince myself that there had to be some kind of mistake. That there was no way this was my little sister, but it was impossible. That was without a doubt April. I'd recognize her anywhere.

The girl on the screen had the same, long, wavy, cherry colored hair. Emerald green eyes, bright smile, and snow colored skin tone. Everything.

"According to neighbors," The reporter continues. "O'Neil was last seen entering the building the day before it burned down and has not been seen since. Police have issued a search for her all over New York but have found no clues that could tell them where she may be, or if she is even still alive. If anyone has any information regarding the search , please contact police."

Mom turned off the TV and looked over at me. She sniffed and ran her hand through her hair. "When was the last time you talked to her? Did she sound…upset or anything?"

I heard the question loud and clear and had an answer but I wasn't able to respond. My mouth was dry and any words I wanted to say were trapped in my throat. Whenever I attempted to talk, it felt as my mouth was full of cotton. My insides turned to ice. I was aware of my mom calling my name, trying to get my attention but I wasn't able to respond, or even meet her eyes. The world seemed to freeze and I froze with it. I wanted to say something among the lines of, "Don't worry mom! April, will be fine! She'll turn up in no time at all!"

Bullshit.

Instead, I turned to meet my mother's eyes and said, "I'm going to New York."

Her eyes grew as wide as pinwheels. Her hands dropped into her lap and her lips parted slightly. They opened and closed several times as she tried to formulate a response.

"I'm serious mom!" I snapped. "First the incident with Stockman now _this_? Something's going on with her over there and I intend to find out what it is!"

"What the _hell _are you talking about?! Have you lost your _mind_!" She screamed back. It was abundantly clear that she was pissed. If the yelling give it away then the way her face flushed did. Her skin was bone white like April's. Her entire face was about as red as a tomato.

"Maybe I have! But that doesn't have a damn thing to do with the fact that something is going on with April and I intend to find out what it is!"

She ran her hands through her hair and them tossed them up helplessly. "A-Are you _listning _to yourself? It has _everything _to do with the fact that you've lost your mind! Have you even thought this through Robyn?"

"What is there to think through? All that matters is that-

"What is there to think through? Robyn where would you even start? Do you really expect the NYPD to let you waltz in and start your own investigation? You haven't visited April in years! How would you know what to look for? Who to suspect? And did cross your mind where Brandon is going to fit into all of this?"

I didn't have answer for a single one of those questions. Which I must say were all _very _goodquestions that needed answers if this was going to be considered a legit, full proof plan. But those were answers I didn't have at the moment, and answers I didn't have time to sit around and think up.

"Mom I know this sounds crazy but…haven't you ever just felt like something was wrong with her? Ever since that incident with her boss, she's been so distant. She's seemed so distracted. April wouldn't just start to drift apart from us like that unless she had a reason, or something was preventing her doing so."

Mom sighed and pinched her the bridge of her nose. "Robyn for god sakes, your sister is _missing_! _Missing_! Do _not _turn this into another one of your…_wild streaks_! This is a serious family matter and we are going to stay here and work through it as a _family_, you hear me?" She snapped. The tone in her voice shocked me. So bitter and dreadful. Her face was wet with tears and snot and her eyes were a deep abyss of sorrow.

She swallowed and pointed a finger at me. "I've lost a lot. I've lost _too _much. First your father. Then my brother. And now _April _is missing." By now Brandon had started to whine in the kitchen, startled by all of the commotion going on in the living room. His wailing didn't exactly help to lighten anyone's mood. "There is _evidence _that whatever caused the building to explode was _no _accident, Robyn! There is a _very _good possibility that I've lost one of daughters. I'm not about to lose the other one because she was _foolish _enough to get involved in a situation she has no business being involved in!"

"Someone tried to _kill _my sister and you're telling me it's none of my business! Are you _shitting _me right now! I mean, _Jesus _mom. Do you honestly expect me to just sit on my ass, wallowing in my sorrow until they make an announcement that they found April's body in a ditch?" I inched closer to my mom until our faces were just inches apart and leaned in closely. "That may be _your _plan, but it's not mine. I'm going to act like I actually care about April and what's going on! I'm not a coward like you!"

Her head snapped up, and her eyes fixed on me with a vicious glare. I wasn't even aware that she had lifted her hand until my cheek started to sting and my face burned. I rested my hand on my face and slowly sank down onto the couch. I looked up at my mom and she looked back down at me coldly. There was not a single trace of regret on her face. Only anger.

"That's enough out of you." She said. Her voice was barely audible but was dense with bitterness and anger. "First of all, I don't give damn if you're 28 years old and living in your own house, with your own career and your own son. Just because you are no longer under my roof does _not_ mean you can speak to me that way. I am your _mother, _you are my daughter and you _will _respect me. Do you understand?"

I didn't respond. I just stared back up at her with a million emotions rushing through me at once. I felt shattered and angry. Woeful and guilty. I didn't know if I should yell back at her or break down in tears in her arms. I was gritting my teeth so hard that I was sure I would break them into pieces and my jaw was so tight that I was afraid I had gotten it stuck like that. But…at the same time, my heart became heavy and dropped to the soles of my feet.

Mom swallowed and began to pace in front of me. "Secondly, I feel that I should remind you that your beloved sister is also my _daughter_. I have laughed with her. Cried with her; been there whenever she has needed me. I have watched her grow from an infant, into a young woman. Her life was a tough road to walk down but I was there every step of the way. So don't you _dare _accuse me not caring that she has gone missing. You hear me? I am _not _a coward. I am _rational_. I have spent enough time on this earth to gather up a bountiful supply of common sense. " She sighed and sat down to me. She took my hand in hers and ran her thumb over the back of my hand. She looked at me and a sad smile formed on her face.

"Robyn, honey…I realize that you believe going to New York is the best thing to do. Your heart is in the right place, dear but having your heart in the right place isn't enough to guarantee you a full proof plan. You must be _rational_ you have to _know _what you are doing. Otherwise you're nothing besides digging your own grave for all either of us know." She rested her hand my cheek and began to run it through my hair. "Please, tell me you understand."

"Mom…I do understand. Everything you're saying makes perfect sense but…I _have _to go. I'm sorry mom but, I _have _to. If the worst happens and April is dead and I know that I didn't even at least try to make a difference, I will never forgive myself. I can't just sit back and wait this time. I did that with dad and then again with Uncle Augie." I swallowed and shook my head. "I'm not sitting back and waiting for the worst to come. Not this time."

Mom pursed her lips. Her head dropped. She squeezed her eyes shut and balled her fist together. She breathed, slow shaky breaths. "Be careful. Please, Robyn just be careful." Her voice was so despondent that I almost backtracked and told her I would not go through with it. She was right about one thing. She had lost a lot. Her husband. Her brother. And now, she had one daughter missing and the other about to leave her. Diving head first into mysterious waters that probably held surprises she wasn't ready for in its murky depths. Secrets she never even thought possible of having to being kept.

I was about to leave my son. My son whose father had fell off the face of the earth the day after I mentioned I was pregnant. It was bad enough that Brandon would have no father in his life, but also having no mother? And why? Because she ran off to New York to look into the second attempted murder of her sister that she had absolutely no clue how to investigate?

Part of me hated myself for being so selfish. I was about to abandon my mother and son, and get myself involved in who knows what? And all for what reasons? So I wouldn't have to live with the guilt of knowing my sister turned up dead after being declared missing and I didn't do anything about it? So I could find April alive, and beat the shit out of her for giving us a heart attack? So I can play detective and find out what April is hiding from us? And I _know _she's hiding something.

Even I do go, and she does turn up dead, I would keep searching for answers and reasoning that while they had crossed no one's mind, they still played a crucial role in what was going on with April.

But despite the guilt. Despite how much I hated myself, that voice in the back of my head that kept telling me to go to New York and hunt for the truth didn't get any weaker. No matter what I did, call myself a paranoid idiot or selfish bitch, I found only myself more and more inclined to obey the demands of that voice in the back of head. And soon enough, all doubts were over shadowed by its orders that I had given myself no choice but to obey.

I came dangerously close to saying I would just toss the entire idea out the window. Dangerously close to giving up on something, I hadn't even started yet. But I bit my tongue.

My vision grew blurry as my eyes flooded with tears. I nodded and took her hand in my own. "I will." was all I said.

It was official.

There would be no regrets.

Those would only get in the way. I only had one shot at this and no time for distractions.

I _had _to do this.

I had to either find my sister, or the secrets she was keeping from me. One way or another, I was going to get my answers.


End file.
